Lace-fastening hook



(No Model.)

J. WALDBN. LAGE FASTBNING HOOK.

Patented Nov. l, 1892.

`fastener is made is of sheet metal.

UNITED STATESl PATENT OFFICE.-`

JOSEPH WALDEN, OF ORANGE, NEW JERSEY.

LACE-FASTENING HOOK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 485,247, dated November 1892. Application filed October 28, 1891. Serial No. l10,068. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH WALDEN, residing at Orange, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Lace-Fasteners for Shoes, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

The object of my invention is to provide a lace-fastener which, without the necessity of tying, will hold firmly and in any desired position the lacing of a shoe and into which lace-fastener the said lacing, without injury toits material, may be easily inserted or therefrom easily withdrawn.

In the drawings, Figure I is an elevation of the upper part of a shoe to which a number of my improved lace-fasteners have been applied. Fig. 4 represents the blank from which they are made. Figs. 2 and 3 show the completed lace-fastener with the shoelacing inserted therein. Figs. 5 and 6 are cross-sections of the lace-fastener represented in Fig. 2, and Fig. 7 is a cross-section of Fig. 3.

The blank from which my improved latlzle- T e y blank a is struck or formed-so as to have three tongues or sections l, 2, and 3 and permit the insertion of the shoe-lace b. The three corrugations may be alike, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6, or the outer ones may be the reverse of the central corrugaton. (See Fig. 7.

In tl)1e drawings the blank is shown as having two prongs 4: and 5, by means of which the lace-fastener may be attached to the shoenpper A, the prongs being clinched behind the shoe-upper; but the prongs shown are not essential to the proper and eifectual working of the fastener. It may be secured to the upper by stitching, if so desired, or by eyelets or rivets.

After the abo ve-described lace-fastener has been attached to the shoe-upper A the lacing b may be easily inserted by passing it (through the openings 7 and 8) under the central tongue 2 and over the outer tongues 1 and 3, as shown in Figs. 5 and 7, or over the central tongue 2 and under the outer tongues l and 3, as shown in Fig. 6. In either case the lacing b will be firmly held in place, and thegreater the tension exerted downward on the lace b the more will the edges of the tonguepieces bind against the lace b and tend to hold it'securely in position. This is clearly shown by the drawings, especially by Figs. 5, 6, and 7, which represent the lacing b inserted in different forms of corrugated blank. A single lace-fastener will firmly hold in position the lacing b wherever on the shoe-upper the lace-fastener is placed. Very often it is desirable that throughout a portion of its length the lacing of a shoe should be loose, while at the same time the lacing needs to be tight in some other portion-as, for instance, tight upon the instep and loose around the ankle. By using my improved lace-fasteners such a result can easily be effected. It is only necessary to place them at the desired points.

The fastener herein described and shown is a thoroughly-practical article, which can be economically made from proper material and which can be readily applied to and used on all Varieties of shoes. It may simply be used at the top of the shoe-upper to fasten there the lacing b or be placed ralong the shoeupper instead of the studs or hooks heretofore used.

What I claim, and desire to secu re by Letters Patent, is

As an improved article of manufacture, a lace-fastener for shoes, consisting of a body portion with attaching-prongs and projecting laterally from the body portion and three arched or corrugated arms or sections, the two outer ones lying in the same plane and the central one in a different but parallel plane, forming a spring-tongue to hold the lace, substantially as described.

JOSEPH WALDEN.

Witnesses:

WM. S. BEAMAN, CHARLES L. DENKS. 

